Apple has been forced into an embarrassing volte-face, announcing that it would rejoin the American EPEAT environmental ratings system for electronic products just days after leaving it.

The reversal of the announcement, described by a senior Apple executive as a “mistake”, was apparently forced on the company by government agencies, schools and scientists which use EPEAT – the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool – to certify the environmental credentials of computers they are considering purchasing.

Bob Mansfield, Apple’s senior vice-president of hardware engineering, wrote in an open letter on Apple’s site that “We’ve recently heard from many loyal Apple customers who were disappointed to learn that we had removed our products from the EPEAT rating system. I recognise that this was a mistake. Starting today, all eligible Apple products are back on EPEAT.”